The House on Mango Street

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros is a loosely connected series of vignettes that conveys the sojourn of Esperanza Cordero from the world of childhood to the undiscovered country of adolescence as she grows up in the Latino section of Chicago. The economy of language found here is beautifully poetic in its precision so that with just a few well-crafted sentences, the author elicits deep joy, genuine heartache, and unbridled laughter. At a glance, these vignettes—most less than one page—look easy to speed through, but they warrant the scrutiny of repeat reads as a greater clarity and depth of understanding is gained from enjoying them more than once.